Brief Summary
This video by Chandoo talks about the five essential skills needed to become a great data analyst. These skills are data preparation, number crunching, storytelling, asking questions, and technology. The video explains each skill in detail and offers tips on how to develop them.
- Data Preparation: Cleaning, combining, and transforming data.
- Number Crunching: Statistical analysis, trend analysis, and mental math.
- Storytelling: Presenting data insights in a clear and persuasive manner.
- Asking Questions: Understanding the motivations and needs of stakeholders.
- Technology: Proficiency in tools like Excel, Power BI, and SQL.
Introduction & about myself
Chandoo introduces himself as a data analyst, business analyst, and reporting analyst with over 15 years of experience. He mentions his website and YouTube channel, which has over 200 awesome videos. He also references a recent role as a junior data analyst for New Zealand Tourism, highlighting the importance of making sense of data. The video will cover the five key skills needed to become a great data analyst.
Data Preparation Skills
Data preparation is the first crucial skill. It involves working with data sources, whether it's getting data from Excel files or other systems. You need to understand how to get the data, subscribe to data sources, and clean the data. Cleaning involves removing duplicates, dealing with blank values, and filling in missing values with calculations. Combining data from different systems like CRM and ERP to produce a comprehensive view is also important. Skills like appending data sets or using joins and intersections are useful here. Data transformation is another key aspect, where you reshape the data to the desired format and frequency for analysis.
Number Crunching Skills
Number crunching is another essential skill for data analysts. It involves statistical analysis, understanding simple statistics like mean, median, and mode, as well as distributions. Depending on your field, you might need to learn more complex concepts like skewness and kurtosis. Domain knowledge is crucial; for example, in insurance, understanding the industry helps in data analysis. Trend analysis, calculating stoplights, and distribution analysis are also important. Mental math is useful for quick calculations. Finally, designing experiments and figuring out which approach is better (A/B testing) is a key part of number crunching.
Storytelling Skills
Storytelling is about creating a narrative around your data. Building a channel to showcase your work can be helpful. Focus on developing your words, charts, and presentation skills. Choose charts that provide insights and present them in an easy and beautiful manner. Building persuasion skills is crucial because you're selling insights to your audience, whether it's a manager or a shareholder. Tailor your communication to your audience. Develop a sense of visual aesthetics, understanding how fonts, colors, and design choices work together to create compelling presentations.
Asking Questions
Asking the right questions is a critical skill. It involves figuring out the motivations and needs of stakeholders. For example, when developing a scorecard, ask why it's needed and what data should be displayed. Understanding the business and learning about the line of work helps you ask better questions. This also involves realizing if you are taking any biases or not really getting excited about things that are normal in the line of work you have.
Technology Skills
Technology skills are essential for a data analyst. This includes proficiency in tools like Excel, Power BI, and SQL. Depending on your role, you might need to pick up programming skills. Excel skills, including formulas and pivot tables, are fundamental. Understanding basic SQL is also important. Spend time learning and mastering these technologies. Power Query and Power Pivot are also very important.
How to get the data analyst skills?
To acquire these skills, focus on data preparation, analysis, storytelling, and technology. Excel skills are very important, as are basic to intermediate-level PowerPoint skills for presenting your data. Consider how you can automate repetitive activities using tools like Power Query. Chandoo offers resources and videos to help develop these skills. He also provides a link to download a free PDF summarizing these skills.
